A ship called Khoryv sank in the Black Sea on Friday, 23 October 2026. Romania's president said a drone hit the ship. It was about 13 nautical miles off Constanța, Romania, outside Romanian territorial waters. One seafarer died and three are missing, the Romanian Naval Authority (ANR) said.
There were 13 crew on board: 10 Ukrainian citizens and 3 Azerbaijani citizens. Rescue boats took nine people alive out of the water. They also recovered one body. The search for the other three crew continues, the ANR said in a statement reported by the Romanian news agency AGERPRES.
What happened
The ANR's Maritime Coordination Centre got the alarm at about 10:00 local time. At 10:15 it asked the Romanian rescue agency ARSVOM to start a search and rescue mission, ARSVOM said. Its rescue ship Artemis left the port of Constanța for the area. Boats of the Ministry of Internal Affairs also went out.
Bad weather and poor visibility stopped a rescue by helicopter. So the rescue is done only by boats, the ANR said.
Romania's Ministry of Internal Affairs gave more details. It said the Coast Guard was first told about a fire on board. The ship was badly damaged and turned over. Another merchant ship in the area picked up 10 of the 13 crew. Nine were alive and one was dead.
A Romanian Coast Guard ship then took the nine survivors on board. The Coast Guard ship and an ARSVOM rescue ship are searching for the three missing crew. Ambulances and a medical team waited for the survivors in the port of Constanța, the ministry said.
The ship flies the flag of the Comoros. Later on Friday, Romania's President Nicușor Dan said the ship had been hit by a drone, Reuters reported. He called it part of Russia's escalation of its war in Ukraine. Video from the Romanian authorities showed the overturned ship going under the water, Reuters said.
Romania's foreign minister, Dan Neculăescu, called it a "lethal attack" on a merchant ship on X. He said one seafarer was killed and others were injured. He called it "a blatant violation of international law and freedom of navigation". He did not say how many people were injured.
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Romania's defence minister, Ștefan Radu Oprea, said an investigation is going on, the Romanian newspaper Gândul reported. He also explained that the Coast Guard leads the response because the ship was outside Romanian territorial waters.
More attacks on ships in the western Black Sea
This is the latest of several incidents with merchant ships off Romania and Bulgaria in October. On 14 and 15 October, drones hit two tankers near Sulina, Romania: Yara J and Wine Trader. Seven crew of Wine Trader went missing, and the search for them has stopped. Read our report: search stopped for seven seafarers missing off Romania.
On 21 October, NATO said it will send more patrol aircraft, radars and drones to the Black Sea. Read more: NATO sends more patrol aircraft to the Black Sea.
What it means for crews
If you sail in the western Black Sea, follow your company's security plan and the latest flag state and naval guidance.
Keep a good lookout, also for drones in the air and on the water. Report anything suspicious at once.
Check your lifejackets, immersion suits and life rafts. In this case, cold water and bad weather made the rescue harder.
Families who are worried about a seafarer on board should contact the ship's manager or crewing agency first.
If you need to talk, free and confidential help is available at ISWAN SeafarerHelp, 24 hours a day.
As of the early afternoon of 23 October 2026, the search for the three missing crew was still going on. We will update this report when the authorities give more information.
Cover photo: The vehicle carrier Endurance at a berth in the port of Constanța, Romania, on 30 October 2019. Illustrative photo, not the ship in the story. Photo: Georgios Moumoulidis, U.S. Army TSAE via Wikimedia Commons, public domain (cropped).
Sources: AGERPRES: Search and rescue mission for the crew of a ship off Constanța, one person dead (ANR statement, 23 Oct 2026, in Romanian), Observator News: First images of the Khoryv; statements of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (23 Oct 2026, in Romanian), Dan Neculăescu, Romania's foreign minister, on X (23 Oct 2026), Euronews Romania: Ship hit by drones 13 miles off Constanța has sunk (with ARSVOM statement, 23 Oct 2026, in Romanian), Euronews: Another rescue operation in the Black Sea following a distress signal from a ship (23 Oct 2026), Gândul: Defence minister says an investigation is under way (23 Oct 2026, in Romanian), Romania Insider: Sailors dead, missing after another commercial vessel reportedly hit by drones (23 Oct 2026)., Reuters via Investing.com: Romania blames Russia for drone that sinks cargo ship; 1 killed, 3 missing (23 Oct 2026), POLITICO: Drone hits another ship in Black Sea near Romania, killing at least 1 sailor (23 Oct 2026)
